Golden 31 and Lucky 7

My oldest baby and I had a great birthday week. Nolan was due on my birthday, but he was born nine days late, and I'm always glad there's a little bit of separation between our two days. I actually was born nine days after my mom's birthday - so there's a trend there!

 

"This way to the beach, guys!"

On my birthday, we drove up to the Indiana Dunes on Lake Michigan, one of my favorite spots in the world. It was a perfect day, and it was right before the Labor Day weekend rush.

It was hot hot hot that day, but the kids didn't seem to mind at all as they dug in the sand and waded in the water.

I love the view of the steel mills and the far-off Chicago skyline. It's home to me.

We ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and goldfish, and we made a mental note to buy a beach umbrella so that next time we have some shade.

 

I wish I would have had another hour on the beach just to search for sea glass. Can you spot the little green piece I took home with me?

When I was a little girl, my mom used to tell me that my special golden birthday would be when I turned 31. It sounded forever away. And now that I'm here, I think it was worth the wait so I could celebrate it with my four guys.

I didn't get any photos of it, but we had dinner at Greek's Pizza with my Grandpa and step-Grandma Gayle and Aunt Sally. Afterwards, Grandpa brought out a little vanilla cake for me. We also took home some pretty cupcakes from Designer Desserts.

The next Saturday, we had a Lego party for Nolan. My mom and Don were visiting, and we invited the rest of our family here in town. It was the rainiest weekend ever, but we didn't let that get to us.

We feasted on hot dogs, chips and dip, pineapple, chocolate cake, and candy Legos.

Nolan fittingly received a big Lego set from his cousins, so all the kids (+ Steve) got to work at building a Coast Guard helicopter :)

And the younger ones were happy just to play toys together.

My mom and Don stayed with us through the weekend. On Nolan's actual birthday, we went to church and everyone in the congregation sang to him, while he just beamed. We had lunch at the Original Pancake house and he played with his birthday gifts the rest of the day. I hope 7 is the very best for him!

xo

Rachel

Summer, please don't go

I'm sorry I've been missing-in-action lately. My computer turned into a complete dinosaur this month, and it was so slow to do anything. I spent some time clearing space on it, so hopefully it's fixed now. Plus, moving houses is not for the faint of heart. We're still getting used to the new house and trying to find a place for all of our belongings. My goal for the week is to get some decor up on the walls so that it feels more like home!

It's always nice when a stranger offers to take a photo of the five of us!

Nolan's second tooth fell out! His adult teeth were already popping through the gums so he didn't have that gap for long. Any day now, he'll probably lose the top two!

I promise to get a post up about our whole butterfly adventure this summer. We just released our twelfth (and last) butterfly this morning!

August giving me smiles as we waited at the doctor's office.

My sister-in-law Dana took me to a fiesta for the women's group at her church. We had a great time and I ate way too much chips and salsa. :)

This little sunflower patch was at their soccer field, and I'm so glad I thought to get this photo. I love it so much.

 Ephraim looks so grown up here!

A friend of mine from college moved here recently, too, so we had a playdate! She has three girls around our boys' ages. There are some stables behind their neighborhood, so we took a peek at the big horses!

 

When I planted our peppers in April, I used a seed packet that had a mix of purple, red, orange, and yellow sweet peppers, so I didn't know what color we would get. On the plant, they were a lime green until I picked them, and then they turned a deep orange-red! Yum!

Some of my favorite summer memories were at Stan & Colleen's pool. THE best!

Forever stealing my drinks :)

This is our new kitchen after we widened the doorway, moved the stove (off to the left of the photo), and rearranged the island to fit. It's a work in progress, and we'd love to paint the cabinets and add a new backplash. Does anyone know how to get an old musty smell out of the inside of cabinets? It smells like a cabin in the woods that hasn't been aired out in 40 years, and I can barely stand it anymore.

Watching baseball with me. Go Cubbies!

I took the boys to the zoo, and we had so much fun. We saw the dolphin show for the first time, and it was amazing! We all came home saying it was our favorite part of the day.

These sea lions put on a good show for us too!

We tried to pet the dog sharks but were unsuccessful. Next time!

In the butterfly garden, August was very interested in the fish! He didn't want to leave.

And once we got in the car, he was out like a light.

While we were at the zoo, Nolan made a list of every animal we saw (without me asking him to)! He wows me with how smart he is.

xo

Rachel

Healthier Blueberry Muffins

A couple of months ago, I tried out a no-sugar, no-white flour, no-dairy diet. It was tough, but once I found a few new recipes, it became doable. These spelt flour muffins are sweetened with real maple syrup and honey, and they don't have any dairy or eggs. They're still completely delicious!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup almond milk

1/2 cup real maple syrup

1/4 cup honey

2 cups spelt flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups fresh blueberries

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with papers.

Mix wet ingredients together and then stir in the dry ingredients. Add blueberries.

Divide into the 12 cups and bake for 25 minutes, or until they're golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. 

Sidenote: For me, spelt flour wasn't easy to find. I bought it from Whole Foods. I would assume that any kind of flour (whole wheat, all-purpose, almond) would work in this recipe, should you be willing to test that out :)

Catching up

I want to share the last few photos I took before we moved houses. Even though we love our new home, there are things that I definitely miss about the old one. We made some great memories there!

One morning, I came out of the kitchen to find August laying down next to the baby :)

We have become big Cubs fans around here! Nolan is always wearing this hat.

My favorite four-year-old and me. Ephraim is wishing to be five already (to catch up to Nolan), but I love him at this age!

We found a little bench alongside one of the ponds in our neighborhood. . . a great spot to watch the ducks and geese!

Every night on our walk, the boys insisted we had to stop at the playground when we walked past it. Who can resist the big twirly slides?

Nolan and Ephraim had their team soccer photos taken after a hot and sweaty Monday night practice. We were walking back to the car, and I didn't even ask them to hold hands :)

August is aways playing with my hair when he's tired. . . it's the sweetest thing.

Nolan is constantly creating and building and using his imagination. What I would give for half of this boy's energy and enthusiasm!

In the old house, I loved Nolan's and Ephraim's bedroom. They shared the master suite with its own sunroom, walk-in closet and bathroom. Needless to say, they do not have a room this big now, but it was nice while it lasted!

August has learned to love the pool. I wish it could stay summer!

These little fishies always swim away from me when I say it's time to leave.

Here are the cutest cousins in stairstep pattern! We were living about 15-20 minutes from them, but now we live about 3 minutes away, and we are so happy about that!

August found a tiny spot to sit on the front porch. He has a way of always making me smile, even when I'm trying to scold him.

I'll be back with more updates soon!

xo

Rachel